Generally, a massage device is used to obtain selected stroking, rubbing and/or kneading massaging effects of the human body to increase the blood flow and obtain muscle relaxation. A body massage may be divided into three levels of rising intensities. The first level, known in the art as stroking, involves a smoothing action characterized by mild to medium pressure applied onto a body part being massaged. Stroking is meant to warm-up and thereby prepare the body part being massaged for the following massage levels. The second level, known in the art as rubbing, involves pressing and rubbing actions characterized by movement of the tissue and medium to high pressure applied on the body part being massaged. Rubbing is meant to increase the blood flow in the body part being massaged. The third level, known in the art as kneading, involves pressing and kneading actions characterized by high pressure applied onto the body part being massaged. Kneading is typically a deep and thorough muscle massage extending over a relatively prolonged time of minutes or more.
Such massage devices may be categorized into a vibration-type massage device and a kneading/rubbing-type massage device. The vibration-type massage is designed to convert a rotation movement of a motor into a vibration movement of a massage head. The kneading/rubbing-type massage device is designed to convert a rotation movement into a rubbing/kneading movement of a massage element.
A vibration-type massage device is often used for providing vibration-type massage of various parts of the body. Particularly in the case of leg massage, it is used to automatically massage the sole of the foot by applying vibration thereto.
A portable, kneading-type massage device that is adjustable for automatically massaging body appendages, particularly the leg, and especially the calf, is desired. A variety of manual tools such as a wooden stick, a bottle, and a roller have been disclosed to use hand pressure for rubbing the calf. The use of the manual tools for massaging the leg is troublesome.
Moreover, a massage device, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,551,260 (Suh, 2003), has been developed that can be used for a particular part of the human body and operated in a variety of patterns. In the U.S. Pat. No. 6,551,260 , “A massage device includes a main body provided with a supporting groove in which a calf of a leg can be disposed, a sliding member slidably inserted into the main body, and a first massager for massaging the calf. The first massager is installed on a rear side of the supporting groove and includes an electric motor, a power transmission device for converting a rotational motion of the motor into a reciprocal motion, and a first massage member for massaging the calf while moving along the supporting groove. . . . First massage members (42) move along the calf in the vertical direction to rub the calf. In addition, the first massaging means may further comprise second massage members (66) that can apply pressure to the calf and release the pressure from the calf so as to perform the kneading massage. The second massage member (66) comprises an air pump (20) and plural pressing members (68) mounted inside the supporting grooves (28). The second massage member (66) kneads the calf as the air pump supplies and exhausts the air to and from the pressing members (68) at a predetermined cycle.”
However, a portable, kneading-type massage device that is adjustable for automatically massaging body appendages, particularly the leg, is not known. Furthermore, a portable, kneading-type massage device that is adjustable for automatically massaging any body parts (e.g., the neck or back/torso) is also not known. Therefore there is a need to adjust the width of the space which supports a body part (e.g., leg) so as to accommodate different sized body parts (e.g., legs vs. arms; e.g., different sized calves), as well as to change the intensity of the massage. Thus it is an object of the present invention to address the need for adjustable, portable, kneading-type massage devices for body parts.